TWO Kent bosses have scooped top awards.

Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Shepherd Neame, the 300-year old Faversham brewer, and Guy Whitehead, managing director of Armourcoat Finishes, Sevenoaks, a producer of decorative coatings, were rated best directors of the year by the Institute of Directors.

Mr Neame was IoD South East Director of the Year in the category for businesses with a turnover of more than £25m. Mr Whitehead won a simiilar accolade for enterprises with sales of up to £5m.

They were winners in two of five categories, and saw off two rivals in each to garner the glory.

The awards were presented at a sell-out gala dinner hosted by BBC TV presenter Maggie Philbin at the IoD’s Pall Mall headquarters in London.

Judges were impressed by the way Mr Neame had taken the family business forward, developing it in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.

Mr Neame said: "This is a great honour for me personally and recognition of the hard work and commitment of everyone at Shepherd Neame. A family business such as ours has great strengths and balance and can pursue a long term strategy which gives us sustainable profit growth."

Mr Whitehead, a former winner of the Kent Business Award for best business person of the year, added: "TheaAwards certainly act as a ‘snapshot’ of the South East – clearly demonstrating that entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen is alive and well in the region."

IoD regional director Rodger Broad said: "The winners were chosen as outstanding in their categories by seven astute independent judges. Their performance, potential and social responsibility singled them out from over 200 other nominees and they are very worthy of our congratulations and praise.

"This is the inaugural year of our awards, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers. We now look forward to making it an annual ‘benchmarking’ of the South East’s most impressive business leaders."